'No holiday' - Dorsoduro, Venice

A trip to see the 2017 edition of the Venice Biennale gave me the opportunity to take my 'No holiday' performance there to continue the journey.

After spending a few days becoming accustomed to the city, I decided to focus on crossing bridges that span canals in the city. This action relates to the geography of the city and at the same time it captures the often repeated activity as people move through the space of the city.

I chose the quiet district of Dorsoduro win which to perform, starting close to Piazzale Roma and making my way south towards the university district of the city, crossing small bridges along the way.

The sounds of boats and barges making their way around the canals was very relaxing and at one point the movements of a small boat and myself walking became perfectly synchronised as I crossed a bridge. The boats owner whistled just before making a 90 degree turn into another canal, obviously to warn other craft, but it almost seemed as though he whistled to signal the synchronisation of our movement.

Eventually I discovered a lovely church that could form a natural conclusion to the walk, the Chiesa dell'Angelo Raffaele, in which I found paintings by the renowned Venetian artist GianAntonio Guardi. The performance ended as I picked up my red suitcase and entered the church.

'No holiday' - Dorsoduro, Venice, Italy - 16th August 2017

The recording can also be viewed on my youtube.com channel here: https://youtu.be/_LRaVkdBqBA